MSNBC's Chris Matthews Brow-Beats Catholic Bishop Over Abortion
Apparently MSNBC's Chris Matthews doesn't want Catholics involved in the political process at all - especially when it comes to abortion. Earlier this month the "Hardball" host declared "The clergy should stay off Capitol Hill." Last night, he accused Thomas Tobin, bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, of "telling public officials how to set public policy," "stepping beyond moral teaching," and "…
Searching for Christmas, and Case of the Missing Layoff Stories
This is the fifth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of "Christmas shopping season" vs. "holiday shopping season" (note how the AP photo at right uses "holiday" and not "shopping," even though there is a C-C-, Chr-Chr-Christmas tree in the picture). The frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references. I have done three sets of simple Google News…
BaltSun Fails to Highlight Pro-Choice Dem's Hypocrisy on Pregnancy Cen
Last night the Baltimore City Council became the first in the nation to pass a law that would require pro-life crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to post in writing disclaimers noting that they do not provide abortion services or contraceptives nor refer women to persons or clinics who do.Reporting the story in the November 24 paper, the Baltimore Sun's Julie Scharper quoted the bill's author and…
Larry O'Donnell: Bishop Who Banned Patrick Kennedy 'A Political Hack
Leave it to Larry to fan the flames . . . On today's Morning Joe, Larry O'Donnell called the Roman Catholic bishop who barred Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) from taking communion a "political hack."Interestingly, Mika Brzezinski had a totally different take, arguing the controversy was not about the Church but about Kennedy publicizing the matter in a play to his base. Though Bishop Thomas Tobin…
Company Mocks Catholicism to Sell Video Game
As if we needed more proof that Christians are the only group left in America that it’s safe to make fun of. A popular YouTube video purports to be an ad for a Wii-like game system called “Mass: We Pray,” which will be available at Easter 2010. In reality, the anti-religious video is a commercial for a new video game.In it, viewers see a family at home as a saccharine-voiced narrator reminiscent…
CBS’s Smith Sees No Left-Wing Agenda in NYC Terror Trials
On Thursday’s CBS Early Show, after Rudy Giuliani suggested the Obama administration was trying to “satisfy left-wing critics” by trying 9/11 terrorists in civilian court, incredulous co-host Harry Smith saw no such connection: “But Hang on. So it’s – so the idea of them being tried in open court is a left-wing political agenda?”Smith began the interview with the former New York City Mayor by…
Newsweek's Miller Complains 'Abortion Is Not the Only Moral Issue' in
"This week's abortion conversation is about politics. Let's not pretend it's about anything else," Newsweek's Lisa Miller huffed in a November 18 Newsweek.com post, complaining about how the moral issues surrounding abortion are taking on a life of their own in the health care debate.We suffer, this week, from a moral myopia. Thanks to the passage in Congress of a health-reform bill, abortion is…
Newsweek’s Lisa Miller Labels Passion of the Christ 'Anti-Semitic
Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller, contributing to her magazine’s “20/10” list of top 10 cultural moments of the past decade, revisited the “furor surrounding...[the] alleged anti-Semitism” of Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, and concluded “the film is, in fact, anti-Semitic.” Miller also accused Gibson of making “Jesus in his own image.”The 2004 film was number eight on Newsweek’…
WaPo: McDonnell Should Denounce Robertson; Paper Praised Obama's Quasi
Three days ago, I argued that the Washington Post was ginning up a new campaign to discredit Republican governor-elect Bob McDonnell, having failed to sink his candidacy by its continual harping about his culturally conservative graduate's thesis at Pat Robertson's Regent University. Today the Post confirmed my suspicions as its editorial board officially weighed in, proclaiming Robertson -- who…
'The Blind Side': Predictable Liberal Critics, Predictable Criticism
I haven’t seen “The Blind Side” yet, so I won’t say anything about the quality of the film. But based on the trailer and the true story, my wife and I are as excited about this as any film in a long time. It tells the true story of the adoption of Michael Oher by the Tuohy family in Tennessee and how they helped him go from homeless teenager to professional football star. The book was incredible…
WaPo Headline Bias: Paper Profiles Clergyman 'Seeking to Put Asunder
Headline wording choice can set the tone for liberal bias, and a November 18 Washington Post Style front-pager is a classic example.Profiling Pentecostal preacher Bishop Harry Jackson, the Post titled staffer Wil Haygood's story "Seeking to put asunder," an obvious allusion to Jesus's declaration about the holy nature of matrimony (Matthew 19:4-6 KJV):And he answered and said unto them, Have ye…
USA Today Religion Blog: Is Bible-defacing 'An Acceptable Political St
Openly gay actor Ian McKellen recently told Details magazine that he proudly defaces Bibles left in hotel nightstands, ripping out pages containing verses which condemn homosexual behavior. USA Today's Leslie Miller picked up on this yesterday for the paper's "Faith & Reason" blog, after spying a blog post by colleague Barbara De Lollis in a November 16 post for her Hotel Check-In blog for…
